Self Yeule

Artie Shaw - Self Portrait (2001) {5CD Box Set Bluebird 09026 63808 2 rec 1936-1954}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.64 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 835 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 247 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1936-54, 2001 Bluebird / BMG | 09026 63808 2
Jazz / Bop / Swing / Big Band / Sweet Bands / Clarinet

As a rule, record companies don't give artists the chance to pick the songs when a boxed set is assembled. They might ask the person who writes the liner notes to interview the artist, or they might even have the artist write the liner notes. But the label, not the artist, usually chooses the material. Self Portrait is an exception; when this five-CD, 95-track boxed set was assembled in 2001, a 91-year-old Artie Shaw was given a rare chance to make the selections himself and comment on them. And for those who are seriously into the clarinetist, it is fascinating to see what he chooses. Self Portrait, which spans 1936-1954, contains most of his essential swing, era hits, including "Stardust," "Begin the Beguine," "Frenesi," and his ominous signature tune, "Nightmare."

"As a composer, I was feeling helpless at home during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, I realized I could at least provide my musical friends with new compositions while they were spending time in self-isolation. So in the Spring of 2020, I composed 31 new short pieces of music for an unaccompanied solo instrument or voice, or for a duo of musicians self-isolating together. With the cancellation of all performances, COVID-19 has adversely impacted the world’s music community. This project is my attempt to raise the spirits of fellow musicians, and the community at large, as we continue to traverse through uncertain times. We might be self-isolating but we are never alone…we have music."

"Throughout my late teens and early twenties, songwriting was definitely a really cheap form of therapy for me," Rebecca Lovell, the more vocal half of the Georgia-bred, Nashville-based sister duo Larkin Poe, tells Apple Music. "But touring changed our perspective in wanting to write songs that would serve as connective tissue between people—songs that sound better when they're being sung by 200 people than they sound being sung by one voice." Self Made Man, the fifth album in the band's decade-long existence, reflects not only this intentional broadening, but a perfected process. Serious-minded students of Southern and classic rock, and the blues that influenced that, Rebecca and her sibling collaborator Megan Lovell produce themselves, program propulsive, earthy beats, and lay down almost all of the sinewy, dialed-in, hand-played instrumental parts. Says Rebecca, "I am every day kind of bowled over by Megan's ability to create melodies within her solos that are so memorable and very concise."

Mike Wheeler has been playing the blues for almost 30 years and has played with Koko Taylor, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Shemekia Copeland, Jimmy Johnson, Son Seals, Willie Kent and a who's who of today's Chicago Blues! Mike is an extraordinary blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He wrote most of the material on Self Made Man including the title track where he sings ''I'm a self made man and I made myself have the blues''. Mike is accompanied by his regular group including Brian James, keyboards; Larry Williams, bass; Cleo Cole, drums and special guest Omar Coleman, harmonica on three songs.

Deeply mystical, Jah9 has emerged from a chrysalis of poetry, dub and spirit to become a powerful femiNINE energy within a universal grassroots movement of consciousness. Inspired by the open spaces in the instrumental dub of 1970's Jamaican roots music, Jah9 sings with a voice that belies the dimensions of her physical body, from a soul much older than its current vessel; "reminiscent of that darkly operatic wailer for truth & justice, Nina Simone." Her philosophy–profoundly spiritual, and her style–Jazz on Dub. Jah9's sophomore album with VP Record's Note To Self elevates Jah9 to a new musical space combining her spiritual identity and sultry vocals to radio friendly contemporary reggae rhythms.